$553.5 million As a regular part of the two-year state budget process, Nebraska’s code agencies (state agencies who report directly to the Governor) recently submitted their FY26/FY27 budget requests. This is a [...]
OpenSkyLIGHTS: Focus on Nebraska fiscal policy $4.4 billion Today is National Tourism Day, and according to the U.S. Travel Association, Nebraska business and leisure travel generated $376 million in 2022, the last [...]
Welcome to OpenSkyLIGHTS, with our special edition highlighting key numbers related to the Nebraska Legislature’s Special Session. 113 LB1, introduced by Senator Lou Ann Linehan, outlines elements of Governor Jim Pillen’s Nebraska [...]
With Nebraska facing a $1.2 billion shortfall through FY 21, figuring out how to close it will be one of biggest challenges for the Legislature. In order to prepare for the budget debate ahead, OpenSky has prepared three policy briefs to help inform the discussion.
Nebraska’s economy has demonstrated stable growth over the last decade, outperforming most other states in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth per capita, personal income growth per capita, and unemployment. (See sidebar box.) [...]
Strong transportation infrastructure is vital to a state’s economic health. However, proposed withdrawals from the state’s rainy day fund to fund transportation infrastructure would leave Nebraska vulnerable to cuts and tax increases when the economy takes a downturn.
Shortfalls for schools and other localities, tax shifts and disparate impacts on agricultural land owners would occur under the assessment growth cap proposed in LB 958. Such unintended consequences are why the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy wrote that assessment caps are “among the least effective, least equitable, and least efficient strategies available for providing property tax relief.”
Middle-income Nebraskans pay relatively low taxes compared to their counterparts in eight nearby states with similar economies and tax structures.
Today we’ll share an infographic that shows how infusing an additional $154 million in state aid to local governments such as school districts would affect our “Real Taxpayers of Nebraska.”
For numerous reasons, claims that reducing the personal income tax in Nebraska will promote economic growth are unsubstantiated. Whether one looks at overall economic growth, employment levels or small-business job creation, data from across the United States show no clear relationship between personal income taxes and a state’s economic well-being.
